Ethereum was the highest-earning blockchain last year, earning more in fees compared to 2023 despite an upgrade in March that reduced costs on the network.
Ethereum collected $2.48 billion in fees over 2024, the most of any blockchain, followed by Tron, which brought in $2.15 billion. Bitcoin (BTC) came in third place, earning $922 million, according to a Jan. 21 CoinGecko report.
Ethereum’s fee earnings last year were a 3% bump from the $2.41 billion earned in 2023.
“This suggests that Ethereum has continued to lead in fee earnings despite the Dencun upgrade in March 2024 that reduced L2 transaction costs and the ongoing user migration from the L1 chain to its L2 scaling solutions,” wrote CoinGecko research analyst Lim Yu Qian.
“Ethereum’s resilient fee earnings also comes in contrast to the price performance of ETH, which fell below expectations last year,” she added.
Crypto analysts have claimed that Ethereum’s March Dencun upgrade — which supported reduced transaction fees for layer 2 networks to scale the blockchain — could undermine mainnet revenue, negatively impacting the price of its native token, Ether (ETH).
CoinGecko found Ethereum also earned $1.17 billion in the first quarter of 2024, which accounted for almost half of its total fee earnings for last year.
“This was also Ethereum’s highest earning quarter in the last two years, driven by increased onchain activity amid widespread airdrop programs,” Lim said.
Related: Ethereum Foundation infighting and drop in DApp volumes put cloud over ETH price
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced significant changes to the Ethereum Foundation’s leadership on Jan. 18 to improve communication between the foundation and builders in the ecosystem.
Ethereum core developer Eric Conner announced his departure from the community on Jan. 21 after Buterin dismissed calls for a leadership shakeup and claimed sole authority over the Ethereum Foundation.
In total, across 21 layer 1 protocols, $6.60 billion in fees was collected, while layer 2 blockchains collectively raked in $294 million, according to CoinGecko.
Tron saw a bump in fee earnings compared to 2023, with a 116.7% increase in fee earnings from $922.08 million in 2023.
Bitcoin also experienced growth, increasing its annual fee earnings in 2024 by 16% compared to 2023.
Meanwhile, Solana saw the most significant spike, with an increase of 2,838% in its annual fee earnings, from $25 million in 2023 to $750 million recorded in 2024. This came off the back of the memecoin craze, which also pushed the Solana network to a record 100 million active wallets in October.
CoinGecko’s report examined gas fees earned by blockchains from Jan. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2024.
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